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Agencies

With no vaccine in sight to cure COVID-19, experts are looking at the use of potential existing drugs to fight the virus.

A study published in the Medical Journal Science takes a look at whether an existing live vaccine can help prevent coronavirus. The study speaks about an oral polio vaccine which comprises live attenuated viruses and can reduce the incidence of other infections.

The study says, "an increasing body of evidence suggests that live attenuated vaccines can also induce broader protection against unrelated pathogens likely by inducing interferon and other innate immunity mechanisms that are yet to be identified."

"Attenuated bacterial vaccines such as Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) against tuberculosis, as well as experimental live attenuated vaccine against pertussis (whooping cough), were also shown to protect against heterologous infections, the study also says. If the results of randomised controlled trial with OPV are positive, OPV could be used to protect the most vulnerable population, the study concludes.